Claims for Idaho unemployment benefits drop for 21st consecutive week

The number of Idahoans submitting a continued claim for unemployment benefits continued to fall the week ending Sept. 26, dropping 8 percent from the previous week to 9,895.

The four-week moving average for continued claims also fell by 9 percent - from 12,416 for the week ending Sept. 19 to 11,284 for the week ending Sept. 26.

Initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits were also down, dropping 13 percent - or 442 claims - from the previous week to 2,995. The four-week moving average declined by 5 percent to 3,477 initial claims per week.

The department paid out $7.1 million in unemployment benefits the week ending Sept. 26, down from $7.8 million for the week ending Sept. 19. Regular state benefit payouts were $2.2 million, down from $2.3 million for the previous week, but 2.7 times higher than the same week in 2019. The Lost Wages Assistance (LWA) program paid out just $323,100, down from the prior week’s payout of $506,100. Of the CARES Act programs, Pandemic Extended Unemployment Compensation payments (PEUC) paid out $1.8 million, the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) paid out $2.3 million and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) paid out $500,000.

Total benefit payments to laid-off Idahoans attributed to COVID-19 reached $876 million. Regular state unemployment benefits made up $200 million of the total, with PEUC benefits at $30 million, PUA benefits at $67 million, FPUC payments at $537 million and LWA benefits at $42 million.

Additional information on weekly claims including county and industry details/breakdowns is available on Idaho’s claim data dashboard at https://lmi.idaho.gov/ui-weekly-claims.